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This weeks highlight reel knockout is a UFC Middleweight clash between Nate “The Great” Marquardt vs Demian Maia. Many people were interested in seeing how this fight went, including myself. Demian Maia had looked incredibly dangerous before his fight with Marquardt, and many believed him to be the favourite for the fight. Personally, I’d always been quite the fan of Nate Marquardt, so I had my money on him to win. Luckily, my prediction for the fight was spot on and Marquardt won. However, I didn’t see it happening like this…

Frank Mir is one of my favourite fighters of all time. The man has undoubted skill and constantly strives to better himself. After the Lesnar fight, he re-evaluated his whole game, put on a lot of muscle and strengthened his boxing. However, I really love his attitude.

Check out these interviews he did with MMA Weekly regarding all of these after his fight with Cheick Kongo.

However, this week Mir crossed the line with his comments. Everyone knows about the issues between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar. These are two fighters who really don’t like each other. However, Mir’s comments were one of the most disturbing and sickening things I’ve read ever, when it comes to sport. It really left me and a bunch of other fans with a really bad feeling in their stomach.

Mir was on WXDX radio and had this to say;

“A lot of individuals are so worried about being politically correct,” Mir said. “I’d rather go ahead and say what’s on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC, ‘Oh, the guy is a great fighter and I have a lot of respect for him’. If I don’t mean it, why is it even coming out of my mouth? I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That’s what’s going through my mind. – Words taken from Fightline.com

After the way Lesnar conducted himself after he beat Mir, I despised Lesnar. He was arrogant and acted disgraceful, making the sport that we love seem chauvinistic and deplorable. I wasn’t freaked out by it though. Mir’s comments have really struck me. For nearly a year, all I’ve wanted to see was a re-match between these two, but I’m not so sure anymore. I mean it’s amazing for the hype machine, but it’s all got a bit too uncomfortable and personal. Both men have children, families, friends etc. To wish death upon another human being, actually hurt me personally.

I can’t speak for any other fan, but I looked up to Mir as I see him as a man who constantly tries to better himself and accepts his victories and defeats with grace and respect. Now I just feel like a disappointed child, who has been let down by his father…

After watching UFC 110, I can’t say I was very happy with my predictions on who would win.I got 2 out of 5 fights correct and I’m a little disappointed in myself. I’m definitely going to have to research each fighter a little bit more beforehand. My knowledge of the sport is pretty good, but obviously I need to freshen up. Certain fighters were incredibly impressive.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović vs Anthony Perosh

Yes, I predicted that Cro Cop would win and there were many factors into why I believed he would. The two most important factors being experience and weight. Cro Cop has fought some of the best fighters that the MMA world has ever seen. He’s lost some and won some, but at the end of the day when you fight against the best, there’s nothing you can do but improve. Sadly, Perosh can’t boast the same thing.

As Perosh was a late replacement for Ben Rothwell, their was a huge weight difference between both fighters. I mean Perosh usually fights in the light-heavyweight division. As you could tell by his attempts at takedowns, Perosh just didn’t have the power to take down Cro Cop.

As I said before, I predicted Cro Cop to win the fight. However, I didn’t expect such a lackluster performance. In an interview, he claimed that he felt bad for his opponent as he stepped in late. I say that’s either garbage or he’s a fool. He had a chance at adding to his highlight reel of head kick finishes, which would’ve boosted up in the heavyweight ranks, but yet again Cro Cop looks slow and pretty poor compared most UFC Heavyweights.

Fight Rating – 4/10

Keith Jardine Vs Ryan Bader

The Jardine vs Bader fight was certainly a test of wills. I was impressed by both men and their stand-up skills. I think what clinched it for Bader (who was quite obviously running out of gas by the time it hit the third round) was his takedown offense. This isn’t to say that Jardine’s takedown defence is poor, as he spars with a well respected wrestler in Rashad Evans at Greg Jackson’s gym. However, he couldn’t handle the young, unbeaten Ryan Bader.

Bader certainly looked good within the fight, but he needs to work on his cardio a bit more as I don’t see him lasting 5 rounds, simply because of his all or nothing approach to fighting. I’d like to see him fight either Brandon Vera, Jon Jones or Thiago Silva. He claims he wants to be test and I certainly believe those are sufficient enough tests for him.

Fight Rating – 6/10

George Sotiropolous Vs Joe Stevenson

For those that don’t know about MMA, it could like a blood sport. To them, it’s two human-beings beating the crap out of each other. What they don’t realize is that MMA is art. Sounds strange doesn’t it? The two main facets to MMA is the stand-up game and the ground-game. This fight was something to show kids who want to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and have skills on the ground.

Going into this fight, I thought Joe Stevenson would completely dominate Sotiropolous, but Sotiropolous was magnificent. He out-boxed Stevenson and when Stevenson managed to get a takedown, Sotiropolous popped out a rubberguard, as soon as he hit the ground. Is Sotiropolous a main contender for BJ Penn’s’ title? Not yet, but give him two more of the top lightweight brass and we’ll certainly find out.

Fight Rating – 8/10

Wanderlei Silva Vs Michael Bisping

Good back and forth fight between these two fighters. I agree with Bisping that he won the first 2 rounds, but I can also see the argument as to why the judges may have given the points to Wanderlei as he ended each round (especially the the last 2 rounds) very strong. I’m sure Bisping can learn from this fight in particular and up his game. He’s a well-rounded fighter, but it seems as if when he goes against the top-brass fighters, he loses out.

Fight Rating – 6.5/10

Cain Velasquez Vs Anthony Rodrigo Nogueria

What else can we say about Cain Velasquez. I believe in my predictions I said that I don’t believe he has “Knockout Power”. When I saw the knockout, I couldn’t believe it. I don’t really think there’s much I can say about this fight as it was so quick. It just proved to me that Velasquez, might just be the biggest dark horse in the run for the Heavyweight title.

As fo Nogueria, I don’t want to say anything to harsh as he’s still a legend in this sport and certainly one of the first heavyweights to show great ground skills in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. However, Nogueria was also known for taking mass amounts of damage during his fights. Sadly for him, I don’t think his chin can handle it anymore.

Tonight marks the first time that the UFC brings it’s product to Australia and it seems as if they’ve put a great main card together for their outing in Oz. It’s interesting to note that the old Pride organizations top fighters are on show tonight with Wanderlei Silva, Anthony Rodrigo Nogeuria and Mirko Cro Cop all fighting.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović Vs Anthony Perosh

This fight is going to be pretty interesting. I can’t say that I know much about Anthony Perosh besides from that he’s 0-2 in the octagon and is a 2nd Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. Every knows about Mirko Cro Cop though as once upon a time he was one of the most dangerous men in MMA and arguably the best heavyweight in the world. However, since he arrived in the octagon he’s looked like a shell of his old self. He no longer puts fear into his opponent’s hearts, in fact he seems quite frightened himself.

As terrible as Cro Cop has looked in his last few fights, I can’t see Perosh beating him. However, if Perosh does beat him, this is definitely the end for Cro Cops career in the UFC and possibly MMA.

Another interesting match-up tonight. To figure out who the winner of this fight is going to be, you really have to look at Keith Jardine. Which Jardine are we going to see tonight? The man who has beaten Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, or the man who lost to Thiago Silva, Houston Alexander and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you is that Ryan Bader will give Keith Jardine a hard fight. I don’t believe The Ultimate Fighter season 8 winner is on the level of Rampage Jackson or Thiago Silva, but he could very well knock out Jardine and judging by Jardine’s last fight, it’s certainly possible. Jardine Vs Forrest Griffin

I can only see one winner coming out of this fight and it has to be Joe Stevenson. He’s looked impressive in his fights prior to this and he’s joined Greg Jackson’s gym which is arguably the best in the world. Nothing against his opponent, but I think he’s going to be turned over by Stevenson. I’m not particularly sure if Joe will finish him, so I think this is going to go to a unanimous decision.

It’s always interesting when two men step into the octagon and feel they have something to prove. This would be one of those perfect scenarios. Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva is one of the most dangerous fighters to fight in MMA. However, since joining the UFC he hasn’t been the Wanderlei Silva that we know and love. Michael Bisping is coming off a win against Dennis Kang, but everyone knows that Kang wasn’t really going to test his chin, much like Dan Henderson had at UFC 100. Everyone who knows anything about MMA knows that Wanderlei definitely test Bispings chin if given the chance.

I think that Bisping is going to play smart and counter punch and ” stick and move” and get this on a unanimous decision.

This is my early prediction for Fight of the Night. I once heard a man say that styles make fights when it comes to MMA and I think this is a perfect example of how these two differing yet slightly similar styles will make a great fight. Both are very good boxers, yet I still don’t think that Velasquez has knockout power. Anybody that watched his fight with Cheick Kongo saw the huge amount of punches he threw, yet still failed to knock out Kongo. This doesn’t bode well for Velasquez, as Big Nog has only been finished once.

I really think it’s going to go to the ground early, with Velasquez going for the takedown. I think the key to this fight is whether or not Velasquez makes a small mistake, which gives an opening to Nogueria. If Velasquez sticks to his game-plan and out wrestles his opponent then he can get the unanimous decision win. Sadly, I reckon Nogueria will force him to make a mistake and make him tap

Last year’s season of “The Ultimate Fighter” was quite intense. As usual, the winner would earn a six-figure contract with the UFC. However, national pride was also at stake as the fights had a “United Kingdom vs. United States” theme.

The Head coaches Michael Bisping (United Kingdom) and Dan Henderson (United States) fought at UFC 100, where Bisping suffered a devastating knock- out loss. Regardless of the loss, Bisping managed to coach the UK team to success with Ross Pearson winning.

Although Pearson was impressive, many believe that Andre Winner was the stand-out fighter in that season. Deadly in the stand-up and proficient with his submission game, many believe that Winner was the next Ultimate Fighter.

Although it wasn’t to be, he is still fighting for the UFC. After his convincing knockout of Rolando Delgado at UFC 105, Winner now looks to take on Cole Miller at UFC Fight Night: Florian Vs Gomi.

I interviewed winner about his training with Michael Bisping, his experiences on “The Ultimate Fighter” and how he’s preparing for his fight with Cole Miller.

Aundre Jacobs : I know this is a bit late, but congratulations on the knockout of Rolando Delgado. Many people including myself were impressed by the way you fought. How did you prepare for the fight and what sort of training did you focus on mainly?

Andre Winner: For the Delgado fight I do what I normally do and that is train everything. My coach Nathan comes up with the game plans but for this one we kept it simple, keep it standing, look for the right hand and don’t get tied up in the clinch that much and the fight went pretty much to plan.

Aundre Jacobs: Delgado is known for his submission skills and I believe that in your first three fights you won by submissions. Obviously, your striking skills were a lot better than Delgado’s, but were you confident with your grappling skills compared to Delgado or did you want to keep the fight strictly on your feet?

Andre Winner: My first three wins aren’t really by submission. I submitted one opponent with a triangle choke and I think the other two were verbal submissions. I wanted to keep the Delgado fight on the feet where I felt I had the advantage. I was not scared of the fight going to the ground as I train with some good grapplers and I can hold my own if it did go to the ground. It may have been a tougher fight but I am confident I would have been able to deal with it and still win the fight.

Aundre Jacobs: How was your experience on The Ultimate Fighter?

Andre Winner: TUF 9 was a great experience. I would do it all again and it has done wonders for my life. I enjoyed the training, made some new friends in the house and I definitely feel that I am a better fighter. I found myself more as a person because of the whole experience.

Aundre Jacobs: Did you gain any valuable experience training with Michael Bisping?

Andre Winner: There was the odd move that I took from training with Mike, but the thing which impacted me most was how hard he worked.

Aundre Jacobs: Your fight with Ross Pearson was pretty awesome, but do you look back at and think there are things that I could’ve done better?

Andre Winner: I don’t feel as though I performed well in the finale against Ross. There are a lot of things which I trained for that I should have done better but did not. However, losing that fight has definitely helped me to become a hungrier fighter.

Aundre Jacobs: Would you like to have a re-match with Ross, because I think a lot of people thought that you were the guy to win The Ultimate Fighter for that division.

Andre Winner: The final was seen as a bump in the road, but I am still the guy people believed would win it and go on to bigger things and I will hopefully prove that in my future fights. Myself and Ross spar together all the time so I’m not fussed about a rematch. He is my team mate and I want to see him go on and do well. The only way we would fight again was if it was for the belt or some sort of life changing amount of money.

Aundre Jacobs: Your next fight looks as if it’ll be against Cole Miller. How is your training going and are there any aspects of your game that you think are stronger or weaker than his?

Andre Winner: Yes I am fighting Cole Miller next. It should be a tough challenge, but so far training has gone well. I am already feeling sharp. Cole has a dangerous ground game so I have been preparing myself for that. He also has improved on his boxing, but I still feel like I am the better striker and wrestler.

Aundre Jacobs: If there’s anything else you wanna say then like feel free man. Thanks again for answering the question – you’re a true legend.

Andre Winner: I would just like to say thanks for all the support and continue supporting myself, Team Rough House and all the the UK fighters.

Every week I’ll be posting a something special for the readers. Whether it be amazing submissions, fantastic knockouts or just awesome fights of the night. These posts are either for those who want to see some of the best bits of MMA and are trying to learn all the moves etc. Or for the hardcore MMA fans who want see some of the best fights that they haven’t seen in awhile.

Firstly, we start off with a legendary submission from Ryo Chonan on current UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva. This will go down as one of the greatest submissions of all time.

For a card that everyone assumed was going to be “average” – UFC 109 was pretty good, a lot better than I thought it would be and my predictions weren’t too bad as well.

So let’s start off with the first fight on the main card

Frank Trigg Vs Matt Serra

Knockout of the Night? Possibly. It’s definitely between this fight and Paul Thiago Vs Mike Swick. It’s interesting, but I don’t think Trigg looked to bad in the fight. However, his inability to push the fight forward was his downfall and Serra was able to capitalize on that and get inside Trigg and knock him clean out.

Fight Rating – 7/10

Demian Maia Vs Dan Miller

This was a slightly boring fight. It defiantly didn’t go the way I expected it to go though. I was pretty certain that someone was going to be tapped out, but at the end of the day two very good grappler’s cancelled each other out. However, I did not see Demian Maia out=striking Dan Miller. Maia can go home after that fight and know that the one part of his game that was obviously lacking in the Marquardt fight and in the majority of his fights has certainly improved.

Fight Rating – 6/10

Paulo Thiago Vs Mike Swick

I didn’t want to believe the hype. I wanted to believe that Swick was going to let his hands fly and knockout Paulo Thiago, but I was definitely wrong. I’ve definitely been converted and officially jumped on the bandwagon. Paulo Thiago is an absolute beast and proved that his knockout of Josh Koshcheck was not a fluke. This guy is lethal. Lots of respect to Swick too as he didn’t just stand there and take a beating, he went in and gave a good account of himself.

Fight Rating – 7.5/10

Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen

I’m not going to deny it, I’m biased. I love Nate Marquardt. His work ethic is certainly something I respect and aspire to in my own form of work. So when he got beaten by Chael Sonnen, it actually broke my heart. I haven’t wanted someone to win so badly since Frank Mir Vs Brock Lesnar II. However, I’ll give credit where credits due and Chael Sonnen was an absolute beast with his takedowns and ground and pound. Now that Chael Sonnen is the number 1# contender for the Middleweight title, do I think he’ll be able to beat Anderson Silva or Vitor Belfort? I’ll save that for another blog…

Fight Rating – 8.5/10 – Fight of the night

Randy Couture Vs Mark Coleman

This was the big fight of the night and it was pretty good. Couture brought some serious jabs and Coleman looked out of place. Firstly, in the first few minutes, he decided to keep his hands down whilst Couture was jabbing him to death. Then obviously Couture pinned him to the cage to do his Greco-Roman wrestling and once Coleman was taken down, we all knew what the outcome would be. Was quite impressed with Couture’s Rear-Naked Choke as he locked it in expertly. Coleman was and is a legend in the sport, but he needs to retire as he’s certainly past it.